Air India plane's tyre bursts on landing at Kochi

Kochi, Feb 26 : All 161 passengers on board an Air India aircraft, on a Delhi-Kochi flight, had a narrow escape when a tyre of their plane burst on landing at the airport here Thursday, said an airport official.

A.C.K. Nair, a top official at the Cochin International Airport Limited, told IANS that the incident occurred at 9.15 a.m. soon after the aircraft touched the ground.

"One tyre at the rear burst, but everything after that was smooth and all the passengers were safely evacuated. The engineers are now inspecting the aircraft," said Nair.

The pilot managed to keep the aircraft on the runway even after the tyre burst and hence further complications were avoided.

The aircraft was supposed to take off in the afternoon for Sharjah, but this has been delayed.